Bulletstorm - Why did I ever doubt you?

The chaos of combat
Source: Giantbomb.com

People Can Fly tried to reinvigorate the first person shooter with Bulletstorm. But did they succeed? The FPS is a genre so staid that, despite drawing huge crowds for annual installments of its heavy-hitter titles, it seems to have lost relevance for many gamers.

The FPS hasn't changed all that much over the years. The deep rut it’s worn through gaming makes it difficult for developers to contribute anything original.

People Can Fly’s addition? Allow the player to close ground quickly. And it’s just enough to shake up the experience.

Bulletstorm is littered with excellent set-pieces
Source: Giantbomb.com

Bulletstorm introduced a leash to pull enemies out of cover. An environment that makes full use of the tool was then built around it. The level design revels in the chaos it invites. There’s a cohesion and inventiveness to the game that reminds me of a polished Nintendo title.

The leash allows the player to manipulate their environment directly, replacing traditional doors and switches. It functions as a powerful weapon too; pull down a walkway or leash an explosive and kick it towards and enemy to upset the status-quo.

The idea was so good they did it twice. Alongside the leash, People Can Fly added a slide allowing the player to get up close and personal with an exposed attacker.

Combat scenarios are all riffs off these basic ideas. Different enemy types need to be handled in different ways. Some will dodge your leash. Get in close and take care of them first. Other armoured foes need to be pulled in close to kick off their defences.

Only you can decide which cast member is least offensive
Source: Giantbomb.com

Clear a room and move on. The rinse and repeat gameplay loop would bore in any other shooter. But here the combat itself is enough to lift the game out of mediocrity. Weapons have real flair and are as fun to explore as Insomniac’s finest designs.

The game demands, and rewards, variety. Bulletstorm provides an invitation for fun or exploration at every turn. Leash or kick an enemy to trigger a slow motion window of opportunity and dispatch them in the most imaginative way you can. Spikes, electric cables, fans and pitfalls – each one grants the player points and the more novel the approach the greater the reward.

Every shooter is about killing. Bulletstorm, at least, is honest about it. And that honesty bleeds over into the story, such as it is.

Both leash mechanic and the point-for-upgrades loop are grounded in the game’s fiction. There’s even a convincing explanation for why your character is the only one with access to this highly destructive technology.

The narrative has been well thought out with a beginning, middle and end set over the course of a few hours, in place of the string of loosely related environments we’re used to in shooters.

There’s even been an attempt made to carve out a characters that suits the grim violence of their world. Unfortunately People Can Fly fail to deliver – Grayson Hunt is a detestable lead. And the secondary characters aren’t any better. They’re stereotypes at best and offensive at worst.

The single female character particularly disappoints. It seems the developers equate vile and violent behaviour with strength.

The writing, at times, is terrible. And that’s unfortunate because there are moments of real humour and self-awareness in Bulletstorm.

If this aspect of the game could have surprised as much as the action did then this could have been an Enslaved-style unexpected masterpiece.

That said, we’ve seen Epic Games in-house development team seem to disintegrate in recent months - if People Can Fly are Epic’s future, then that future is bright.

---

Note: I finally played Bulletstorm through PlayStation Plus, thanks to a free month of the services provided by Sony Computer Entertainment.